In the first epistle of Paul
to the Corinthians, chapter 15, reading from verse 1, Paul has
the following to say, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel which I preached unto you, wherein also ye have received,
and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye keep
in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you first
of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that
he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he
was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. After that he was seen
of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater
part remain unto this present. but some are fallen asleep. After
that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and last
of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles,
that I'm not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted
the church of God. But by the grace of God I am
what I am, and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not
in vain. But I laboured more abundantly
than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with
me. Therefore whether it were I or
they, so we preach, and so ye believed. So Paul speaks of the gospel.
the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in Philippians,
in chapter 3, he says the following, But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ? Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss
of all things. And do count them but dung, that
I may win Christ. and be found in him, not having
mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which
is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of
God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection,
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection. of the dead, that I may know
him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings
being made conformable under his death. To Paul, Christ was
his all. When God by his gospel encountered
Saul on the road to Damascus, as that religious man intent
on persecuting the church, raging against Jesus Christ and raging
against the followers of Christ. When God encountered him, he
changed Saul's life forever. He brought this proud, arrogant,
religious man who with all his learning had come to the conclusion
that Jesus Christ was a troubler in Israel and that those that
followed him were blind and deceived. For all his learning he came
to the wrong conclusion. Yet Christ met him on the way
and changed him and showed him that all his learning was for
naught and all that he was was a sinner through and through.
He brought him to his knees, he brought him to nothing, and
he showed him that Christ is indeed God Almighty. Christ spake
from the heights of glory to this sinner on earth. The resurrected,
glorified Son of God spake unto Saul, and Saul heard, and Saul
from the depths of his sin, a dead sinner, was brought to life by
the work of the Spirit of God. He was born again and brought
to see that Christ was his Savior. And having been shown this, his
attitude, his persuasion, his conviction, his desire from that
day on was that he should count everything as nothing. Count
all his achievements, all his standing, all his birth by nature
and count everything that he can do in the flesh as dung,
as nothing. that he may win Christ, that
he may know Christ, that he may experience Christ. that his walk
might not be just based upon the historical memory of past
events, that his experience might not just look back to that day
on the road to Damascus when Christ spoke to him, or to other
days when the Lord encountered him and spoke to him, but that
daily, continually, he might know Christ, he might know the
faith of Christ which brought in for him the righteousness
of God that he might know that righteousness that he might know
the cleansing of the blood of Christ that he might feel that
his sins are forgiven and know that he is at peace with God
the Father that he might know Christ and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable under
his death if by any means he might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. You see whilst Paul like us remained
in this world he remained walking in the carcass of human flesh
though he had been born again by God, though the gospel had
wrought this change in him, there was in him the Spirit of God.
which warred with the flesh and the sin within him. He knew the
death in his flesh, he knew the death all around him, he saw
the blackness and darkness of the world around him and his
hope was that in the end when his life came to its conclusion,
when his work was done, that he with others would be raised
again bodily resurrected from the dead to stand before his
saviour. That was what he was looking
for, that was what was set before him, that was what the race that
he ran had as its goal, had at the finishing line. and to know
that that was going to be his experience in the end, to have
the assurance that he would cross that line and would be raised
from the dead with a new body. He needed to know on a daily
basis the power of Christ's resurrection. He needed to know Christ. He
needed to hear Christ's voice. He needed to have the life flowing
through him. He needed as it were to feel
the blood pumping through his body in a spiritual sense, he
needed to know Christ's life within. And he knew it through that gospel
which brought him from the dead to stand with Christ alive. that gospel which he preached
at Corinth, that gospel by which the believers at Corinth, those
at Corinth who were once dead were brought to life to believe
with Paul upon the same Christ and Saviour. By which also ye
are saved he says. I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, that which brought you to life I deliver
it unto you, first of all, that which I also received. I heard
it and I'm preaching it unto you, that you may hear it and
you may know it too, how that Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He rose again the
third day according to the Scriptures, that He was seen of Cephas, then
of the twelve, then of five hundred brethren at once, Then of James
and the apostles and last of all, he says, of me also as of
one born out of due time. Saul didn't see Christ physically
risen from the dead like the others did. He wasn't there at
that day. But Christ appeared unto him. And you today may say that you
weren't there. And how can you know? And how
can you know that Christ has risen? And how can you know these
things are true? You will know when Christ appears
and speaks unto you as he spake unto Saul. Saul had been changed
by the gospel. By the declaration of the Gospel
from Christ Himself. By the power of God, the Gospel. Christ Himself is that power. And that power, Christ, is made
known through His message, the Gospel. Christ Himself is salvation. And salvation is made known through
the Gospel. It is the Gospel and the Gospel
alone which conveys Christ. If we are to know the power of
having Christ's life within, the power of His resurrection,
then we will hear His Gospel. We will hear Him speak. We will
hear the voice of the Spirit of God declaring, this is my
Son, my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. We will hear His
Gospel. The gospel is the power of God
under salvation. It is the power which brings
Christ to his people, by which he brings them to life, by which
they, like Christ, are resurrected from the dead. because that's
where we all are by nature we are dead and we need to live
we need to be brought to life and there's one means by which
dead sinners are brought to life and that is by the preaching
of the gospel which declares the resurrection of the dead
the power of God Christ his resurrection. How vital this is. How vital
the resurrection is. Which is why Paul desired to
know the power of his resurrection in every sense and meaning of
the words. He wanted to know it had happened. He wanted to know it would happen
in the future but he wanted to know it was real every day. He
wanted to feel the life. He wanted to know the power of
the resurrection. What do you know of the power
of the resurrection? How vital it is to know it? Well
I want to speak to you briefly of the resurrection this morning.
in three aspects. First of all the fact of the
resurrection. The reality, the truth of it.
Secondly, the necessity of the resurrection. And lastly, the
power of the resurrection. Firstly, the fact of the resurrection. It is a fact, a truth which is
declared by the Gospel, which we declare unto you this day,
which Paul declared in his preaching, that Christ is raised from the
dead. And that there is coming a day
when all men, women and children will be raised bodily from the
dead. When the dead shall be raised
up and all shall stand before Almighty God. It is a fact. But it is a fact which dead men
in their hearts deny. Because man does not want to
believe that he will stand again before God. Because man by nature
is a sinner and man by nature knows he's a sinner. And he does
not want to give an account of his deeds. You don't want to
give an account of your deeds. You know what you've done. You
know what you are. and you shut your ears, you shut
your eyes, you shut your mind to the reality, the fact that
the day you pass from this world is the day that you will be resurrected
to stand before Almighty God and you will have to answer before
Him. There is a day of judgement which
is approaching. It is a fact but a fact that
we bury that we bury our heads in the sand to avoid, that we
shut our ears to. Now at the time when Christ walked
in this earth, there were religious men in Jerusalem amongst the
Jews. In more than one camp, Pharisees
and Sadducees and scribes And that body of men, that religious
men, those wise men who studied the things of God and studied
the scriptures, that body of men called the Sadducees denied
the resurrection. They twisted the things of God
up in such a manner that they convinced themselves there was
no resurrection. as others do today. And some
say the resurrection is past and there will be no bodily resurrection
for believers. And some deny the resurrection
of Christ. But Paul declared plainly that
Christ was buried and that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. The resurrection is a fact. It's
declared in all four Gospels. how Christ was nailed to the
tree, how they laid him in the grave and how he rose again and
appeared to many witnesses. As it says, he was seen of Cephas,
then of the twelve, then he was seen of above five hundred brethren
at once, of whom the greater part remained alive at the time
at which Paul wrote this letter. Then he was seen of James and
all the apostles, And last of all, he was seen of me as of
one born out of due time. Paul knew that Christ was raised
again. And many of those whom he wrote
to at that time knew he was raised again. They'd seen him. they'd
seen him the women had gone to the tomb and found the stone
rolled away he was not there and later they saw him and they
spake unto him the disciples on the road to Emmaus spake unto
the Lord Jesus and he appeared unto many it's a fact it was
recorded at the time he was seen of many and many witnesses recorded
now of course man being blind in his sins will shut his ears
to the record of them. No matter how many hundreds saw
him, men today will say, oh that's a long time ago and close their
ears and deny it. But he was seen. And he was seen
for a purpose because God would make this known. God would make
known unto this dark and evil world that his son died and his
son rose again. He did not do this in a corner. Christ's death, his crucifixion
was a public death, seen by many, and recorded in the history books,
and known in the whole world as a fact that happened. And
his resurrection was intentionally seen by many. 500 people saw the risen Lord. It was made known. And on the
day on which Christ died, God made known in this world what
was going on. There was darkness upon the face
of the earth for three hours. Everyone knew the darkness. No one alive on that day was
unaware that something strange happened. There was darkness. And at the end of the darkness
Christ cried out with a loud voice and gave up the ghost And
as Matthew says in his Gospel, Jesus when he had cried again
with a loud voice yielded up the ghost and behold the veil
of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. and
the earth did quake and the rocks rent and the graves were opened
and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out
of the graves after his resurrection and went into the holy city and
appeared unto many dead people in the graves when Christ rose
others rose It was not just Christ, so if some say oh well we never
saw Him, they saw these others. It would have been noted and
recorded at the time, what a day, what a weekend, what days these
were. Many bodies, many dead people
entered the city and were seen of many. Now when the centurion
and they that were with him watching Jesus saw the earthquake and
those things that were done they feared greatly saying truly this
was the Son of God. And if you by any means saw or
knew or see or know any of these things, if God makes known unto
you that Christ has risen from the dead, then you will fear
with a godly fear and will declare of a truth. Truly, this is the
Son of God. The Son of God. Yes, Christ truly
rose from the dead. He was seen by many witnesses.
Jesus spake of this himself. He declared what would happen.
He declared what would be. He declared that there must be
a resurrection. He declared that there is a resurrection
to come. He made plain what would be.
And it was proven at the event. and the disciples and the apostles
saw and they knew and they preached and they recorded and they preached
it in their message afterwards. Act 433 says and with great power
gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus and great grace was upon them all. Great grace. And later saw Paul himself after
the event as we've said on the way to Damascus met with the
risen Christ and he could declare though he came at another point
in time that he is alive I have seen him I know him and it's
this point of the resurrection which is so hotly contended the
latter chapters of the book of Acts, Paul is brought to trial
and brought to question, he's questioned by others and they
question him on his belief in the resurrection. They question him. If the truth
of the resurrection can be undermined then as he says in 1 Corinthians
15 that we read earlier Christ is dead in vain. If the resurrection
is not true, then Christ's death is in vain. And we who believe
he died, and we who believe he rose again, are of all men most
miserable. If our salvation is but for this
world, but for this brief moment in time, then we are of all men
most miserable. Because the path of the believer
in this world is a path of suffering. as the Saviour's pathway was.
And the great hope is that one day we with Him will be risen
again and be with Him forevermore. This is a fact. It is a fact
that Christ spake of, a fact that happened, a fact that was
seen by many people, 500 witnesses at once, a fact that was seen
of poor. And it is a fact which is seen
by every believer in Jesus Christ down through history to this
very present day. You say, how can I believe that
Christ was risen again? That's just what is recorded
in a book back then. What have I got today to go on? You have got the true and faithful
witness of many who know and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
who know the power of his gospel, who know the power of his resurrection,
who declare unto you as Saul declared under his generation,
the same that we declare in our generation. We declare that Christ
is risen indeed. We are not following cunningly
devised fables. We are not resting in just written
words on a book. But we believe this book, we
believe this account because we've heard the voice of Jesus
Christ from on high because he has made us who were once dead
to live. Christ continues to preach to
this day and will continue to preach to the end of time because
he lives and because he lives his gospels preach them because
he lives dead sinners are brought to life and because they're brought
to life they go forth as soul did preaching this gospel How do we know Christ is risen?
Because the risen Christ has made his life known unto us. This resurrection, this need
of the resurrection, this fact of the resurrection is made known
throughout all the scriptures from the very beginning. An exemplary
account is that of Joseph. Joseph in Genesis was betrayed
by his brothers. full of jealousy and hatred for
this one who was the favourite of their father. Full of jealousy
and hatred his jealous brothers sought to get rid of him and
they threw him in a pit and as it were slew him. But he was
not actually dead and eventually he was found by merchants travelling
to Egypt and taken down to Egypt by the Ishmaelites and sold as
a slave in Egypt. In type and figure he was slain. But unknown to the brethren,
unknown to his brothers, he was then lifted up in Egypt to a
great height. Thrown into jail, he was delivered
from jail. And eventually with the passing
of time, he became second only to Pharaoh. whose dreams he had
interpreted. And Pharaoh made this Joseph
governor over all Egypt and over all the known world at that time.
And raised up to the point of governor, he was placed there
at a time of famine, when the world around was dead. There
was no food, and without food you died. And Joseph's brethren
back home in Canaan were dying. They had no food. And they heard
of Egypt and the food that was in Egypt and they went down to
Egypt to bow before the governor in Egypt to seek bread that they
might live. Now they didn't know that that
was Joseph. And they didn't know that Joseph
who they thought was dead was alive. But they soon knew the
power and the effects of his resurrection. Because as governor,
as the one who had the food, as the one who could bring life, they would come to feel the effects
of his rule, his life, his power. regardless of the fact that they'd
never seen him in that role, regardless of the fact that they
could not say that they had seen that Joseph was, as it were,
risen from the dead. Now Joseph's a picture of Christ,
and Christ died, and Christ is risen again, and Christ is the
governor, the ruler of this whole world. and you might not have
seen him and you might not know that he lives but you feel the
effects of his rule, his life, his power whoever you are and
wherever you are The fact that you are alive today is because
he has given you life. The fact that you have food today
is because he has given you food. The fact that your heart beats
today is because he keeps it beating. And he can lift you
up and he can cast you down. Whether you accept it or reject
it, he's the one that keeps you alive. He's the one that can
give you food. He's the one that can cast you
down into hell. and he's the one that can lead
you forth into heaven's glory. Your life is in his hands because
he is alive and you by nature are dead. Whether you've seen
him or not, you feel his effects. There is a famine in the land.
There is a famine in the land in which we live, the world in
which we live. There is darkness and death all
around us. There is a famine of the Word
of God. And yet it's the Word of God
that you need in order to live. You can have all the earthly
food you like, you can eat and drink and be merry, but tomorrow
you will die. And what will take you past that
death into eternal life? The Word of God will. That Word
which brings life. You need to hear it, you need
that life. And it will come from Jesus Christ
and Jesus Christ alone. He's the one who, like Joseph
in Egypt, has the food that you need to live. And when you're
brought to know that you are starving, that you are dying,
that you are dead, then you will go to Him. Then you will begin
to seek Him. Then you will wonder, is there
a God? Is there a life after death?
What must I do to be saved? Then, like Joseph's brothers,
you will go to where He is. And you will stand before Him.
And you will see that He lives indeed. and if his love is set
upon you, his grace is set upon you he will make himself known
unto you and you will know the power of his resurrection You
see you have a great need of this resurrection. You have a
great need of this resurrection. There is a necessity for the
resurrection. It was necessary that Christ
rise from the dead. It's necessary that you should
rise from the dead. Yet the heart of man denies it. In his second epistle to Timothy,
Paul writes that people. But shun profane and vain babblings
for they will increase unto more ungodliness and their word will
eat as doth a canker of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus who
concerning the truth have erred saying that the resurrection
is past already and overthrow the faith of son. Nevertheless,
the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord
knoweth them that are his. And let everyone that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Deny this resurrection,
and your error will lead you into everlasting death. But the
Lord knows who are his. The Lord knows if you're his.
And if you're his, you will know that he is alive. and you will
know that you need him to be alive. Paul speaks of the resurrection
in great depth in 1 Corinthians 15 which we read from because
at Corinth they disputed the resurrection. They disputed the
resurrection in terms of a coming resurrection. They did not so
much discuss whether or not Christ had risen, but they were debating
and arguing and philosophizing over whether we would physically
rise again. But in so doing they undermined
the foundation of the Gospel. They undermined the foundation
that Christ himself was risen. As Paul says, now if Christ be
preached, that he rose from the dead. How say some of you that
there is no resurrection of the dead? If there be no resurrection
of the dead, then is Christ not risen? And if Christ be not risen,
then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain? Yea,
and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified
of God that he raised up Christ, whom he raised not up, if so
be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then
is Christ not raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain, and you are yet in your sins. Then also they
which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life
only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from
the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since
by man came death, when Adam died, when Adam sinned, sin entered
his world and death by sin, man by man came death, by your sin
came death, you die because you sin. But since by man came death,
By man also, by man, by the man, by the Lord Jesus Christ, by
man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. All those
who are born of Adam die because of sin, but all those who are
born of Christ shall live. because of his resurrection and
his righteousness. For every man in his own order,
Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's, it is
coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered
up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put
down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign
till he have put all enemies under his feet. the last enemy
that shall be destroyed is death for he hath put all things under
his feet but when he sayeth all things are put under him it is
manifest that he is accepted which did put all things under
him and when all things shall be subdued under him then shall
the Son of God also himself be subject under him that put all
things under him that God may be all in all there's come in a day There's
come in the end when Christ will reign over all
his enemies and when all who die, you and I included, will
stand before him. And then you will know whether
there be a resurrection from the dead. But Paul knew there
was. It was his great hope. He longed,
he looked for that day when he would stand with the Savior. And he rejoiced in the experience
of that life in Christ that he knew every day he journeyed through
this world. He rejoiced in the power of the
resurrection. The resurrection is necessary.
because we are dead and we must live. The resurrection is necessary
because there is a judgment to come because of our sin and the
death which entered by sin. Adam died when he sinned. Sin entered by one man and death
by sin. And without a resurrection that's
where we remain. that's what we are by nature
that's all we are by nature full of sin and dead as a consequence
and if there's no life after death if there's no heaven and
hell if there's no resurrection then all you've got is a few
miserable years in this world A few miserable years which go
by in a flash, full of trouble and trial, full of violence and
anxiety, full of sickness, full of misery. that's all there is
and then people die and that's all people think there is so
many think that's all there is and they go around trying to
get as much happiness as they call it in this world and yet
what they call happiness is so vain and fleeting and passing
they're young but for a moment and they're old before they know
it and they're dead in the grave before they know it and if there's
no resurrection what have you got? but there is a resurrection.
There is a world to come. There is a God before whom we
will stand. There is a judgment to which
we must answer. And our hope that we will stand
and live and be spared the judgment that sends us to hell is to be
found in Jesus Christ and his resurrection. and his gospel
and his life and his righteousness. Do you know him? Do you know
him and the power of his resurrection? Have you this hope that Paul
had, that Peter had, that the disciples had, that all the brethren
have, that all believers have? Have you this hope? 1 Peter 1
3 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
which according to his abundant mercy have begotten us again
unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Is that your hope? If you have
a hope, a lively hope, a hope for the future, a hope that extends
beyond the few years upon this globe, then it will be found
in Christ and His resurrection. And the joy of that hope as you
journey through this world will be found in the power of the
resurrection. The power. Consider the power
of the resurrection. Firstly the power as exhibited
in Christ himself. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me though
he were dead yet shall he live. I am the resurrection. That's
the power which is in Christ in his gospel. He is the life. He has the power to rise from
the dead because he is everlasting life. If you have true life,
lasting life, life which will lift you up in the resurrection,
it's because you have Christ. He has this power in himself. It's not outside of himself.
It's not something he had to obtain. It's not something that
God gave to him. It's something he has in himself. I am the resurrection. When he
died, when he was crucified, when he was slain, he wasn't
put into the hands of men, the power of men. He didn't have
his life taken away from him by others. He laid it down willingly
and when he rose again he took it up. He says in John 10 18
John 10 17 and 18. Therefore does my father love
me because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No
man taketh it from me but I lay it down of myself. I have power
to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment
have I received of my father. He has the power, He rose because
He had the power to rise. And He has the power to cause
dead sinners like you and I to rise. He has the power. Hebrews 7, 16 says, He has the
power of an endless life. He's a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek, called not of a carnal commandment,
which is dead. but of the commandment of God, of a living commandment, of the
power of an endless life. He's a priest forever. He is
without beginning and without end. And when he laid down his
life as a man upon the cross, he laid it down of his own power.
And when he took it again, he took it of his own power because
he's God. He's the beginning and the ending,
the Alpha and the Omega. He's without beginning, without
ending. He's everlasting. Before you
were, He was. And He always will be. He has the power, the power of
His resurrection. When Paul opens the gospel in
Romans he says, Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be
an apostle separated under the gospel of God concerning his
son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power
according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the
dead. God made known his power and
the power of God in Christ when his son rose again. If any should
ever doubt who this Jesus was, if any that saw Jesus when he
was in this world should doubt that his claim to be the son
of God, his claim of divinity was true, that was silenced when
this man rose again from the dead. If you doubt who Jesus
is, the answer to your doubt is the fact that he had the power
to rise again from the dead and he has risen and he is alive
today and he preaches his gospel from on high today. But secondly,
as Paul longed for, there is the power of this resurrection
made known and experienced by God's people. Christ has the
power in himself but we know the power when we know Christ
and his gospel. Paul experienced this power,
it wasn't something academic, it wasn't something he's read
of, it wasn't something he simply believed because he saw it on
the pages of scripture or because he heard the report of others.
He heard Christ's voice. He experienced this life. That I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection. How may we know Him? How may
we know Him? and the power of his resurrection
how will you know him and the power of his resurrection you
who are dead you who are full of sin you who have no strength
only when you come to see that Paul renounced self. He renounced
all that he was as a religious man. He renounced all his filthy
rags of righteousness. He renounced all his good works. He renounced all his wisdom.
He renounced all his birth and lineage. He renounced all that
he could take some pride in. And recognised that before God
he was nothing. And when he was brought there,
then he knew Christ. And then he knew the power of
his gospel and the power of his resurrection. And you'll only
know this power when you've renounced all that you are and all that
you can do. When your pride is ripped to
shreds, when you cease to rest in your will, your works, your
decision, and know that salvation is of grace from start to finish. When we renounce all our works,
all our will, all our way, all that we are, then we will know
the power of his resurrection. When we fall down before him
as nothing, when we're crucified, When we, like him, experience,
as it were, his death, when we're crucified, when we know that
we were crucified with Christ upon the cross, when self is
slain, then we will know his life. Paul says in Galatians,
I through the law am dead to the Lord that I might live under
God, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. But the life I now live, I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. Oh, did he love you? Did he give
himself for you? Was he laid in the grave for
you? Will you on that last day with
him rise again victorious because he took away your sin? He took
away the flesh. He took away the old man Adam.
He took away all that kept you out of glory. He took away you,
your old man, and made you to be new and alive again in Jesus
Christ. Oh, will you rise with Him? Or
are you of all men most miserable? Behold I show you a mystery,
Paul says. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at
the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall
be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written,
death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be to God which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved
brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not
vain in the Lord. And may you, with Paul, by God's
grace, know Christ, because you are nothing. Oh, may you know
Christ and the power of his resurrection. Amen.